SAN MARCOS—This semester, part-time faculty received an increase in their paid office hours, giving students more stable access to their teachers.
Previously, a part-time faculty member teaching a three-unit class received 4.5 office hours for the entire semester, less than 17 minutes a week. However, due to successful negotiations between ParityForPalomar and Palomar College, that same part-time faculty member now receives 16 office hours a semester, or one full hour a week.
Previously, part-time faculty had two options: offer extremely limited office hours or work off the clock. Now, they no longer have to make that choice.
“I don’t know how I can say this, but part-time faculty have been providing office hours and working for free forever… The part-time faculty have been providing this kind of support for students, and now they’re actually getting compensated for it,” Nicole Siminski said.
The increase in office hours is the most recent win for ParityForPalomar, supported by the Palomar Faculty Federation (PFF), which fights for equity between part-time and full-time faculty. ESL Instructor Nicole Siminski is one of the leaders of ParityForPalomar and was the lead negotiator of this project. She shared her reaction when she heard Palomar’s decision.
“I had chills… It was the first thing that I signed that gave me chills… I wrote a ‘Thank you, and…’ letter to the district telling them how much it meant to me,” she said.
Siminski also applauded the district for how quick they were to rush the decision and for their cooperation throughout the entire process. Anna Pedroza, Palomar’s Vice President of Human Resources, also commented on the ease of the process.
“The collaboration with our faculty is very positive on this campus. The chancellor’s office was supportive in increasing hours… I think the timing was right for everyone involved,” Pedroza said.
She explained that whenever someone in the Palomar community brings a concern regarding anything that impacts the student or faculty experience, communication is key.
“We meet, we collaborate, we have conversations around that. In this case, we would look at ‘Is there funding? Do we have enough to cover that?’… And in this situation, we were fortunate that the chancellor’s office provided some assistance. So, it was a pretty easy conversation,” Pedroza said.
Siminski explained that one of the benefits of increasing office hours is that students will no longer have to hope their professor can stay an extra 15 minutes after class. Part-time faculty can now provide stable office hours and add them to their syllabus. She said this investment in part-time faculty will give the students a better learning experience.
Kristie Hill-Cummings, an adjunct biology professor at Palomar, shared the benefits students can receive from office hours. She’s used her office hours to build rapport with her students, help them apply for degree programs, and offer them advice when needed.
“Office hours are not just tutoring… I have students that are doing A and B work, doing really well. They’re coming because they know the value of it. They know, ‘Hey, I’m gonna need you to write a letter of recommendation, and I understand you know me on a personal level,’” she said.
She also explained that some students discuss their academic and personal struggles during office hours. This insight allows her to better help her students. While she has always provided these services, now she’s paid for that time.
“For myself and others that I know, we did it anyway without getting paid. But now, we do it, and we get compensated. It makes us feel worthy. It makes us feel that the district sees us as an equal to our full-time faculty, and that was a big difference. Because we wanted to feel valued,” Hill-Cummings said.
The increase in office hours for part-time faculty is currently only in place until the end of the 2024-2025 academic year. According to Siminski, after that, it will be decided whether Palomar will continue with the 16-hour increase or reduce it to nine hours a semester.
“As a lifelong educator… The worst thing you can do as a leader is let one year pass and make a judgment on it… You have to allow some time to go through it, and then, really, the conversation will be in collaboration with our faculty as we move forward,” Anna Pedroza said.
Kristie Hill-Cummings encouraged students to share how they benefit from office hours, from saying “thank you” to their faculty to expressing it to Palomar. She said it’s easy for people to get burnt out, so appreciation helps bring the fire back.
“Attend a governing board meeting and say “I’m a student, I’m a recipient of these extra office hours, and I want to thank you for giving my adjunct faculty members this opportunity,’” she said.
Corrections: Nov. 7, 2024 @ 7:54 p.m. – A previous version of this story incorrectly spelled Anna Pedroza’s name. It has since been corrected.
